German economy expected to contract by 0.3% this year - BDI

Germany's BDI industry association warns that the energy crunch would continue to weigh on the economy

Mild recessionary tendencies will predominate at the start of the year
Things should only start improving in the spring
Sees exports increasing by 1.0% in real terms this year, lagging global trade growth forecast of 1.5%

The outlook for Europe can take comfort from lower energy prices to start the year at least, coming off the back of a less harsh winter. However, recession risks are still reverberating and we'll have to see how things develop in the next few months to get an idea of how severe the downturn might be across the region.